The following article is an extract from the UK Parliament, House of Lords, Publication and Records, EU External Trade Written Question HL2605. This gives the lie to Scottish First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, and her Brexit Minister Michael Russell's assertion that for the good of Scottish business, Scotland must remain within the EU single market. The evidence revealed from the answer to the UK Parliamentary written question HL2605, shows that a staggering number of foreign states are already trading goods freely with the rest-EU, (i.e. minus the UK) without being members of the European Economic Area (EEA) or the EU itself, and to a higher volume than they trade with the UK. There is a similar pattern with trade in services. This is probably one of the reasons why Theresa May is displaying so much confidence in moving forward with steps to take the UK completely out of the single market. The UK Prime Minister will most probably also be aware that, should the SNP Scottish Government now go ahead with holding a second Scottish Independence referendum, using the argument that, "A majority of the Scottish electorate voted to remain in the EU", such a move will most likely lead, once again, to a failure to convince Scottish voters to plump for Scottish independence, now that there is clear evidence that Scottish business currently carries out approximately £48 billion worth of trade yearly with England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as opposed to only approximately £11 billion with the rest of the EU. It's time for the SNP to now take stock and review their so called "Independence within the EU" stance.

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Q

Asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon

Asked on: 25 October 2016

Department for International Trade

EU External Trade HL2605

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether there are countries outside the single market which carry out a greater level of trade with the rest of the EU than with the UK; and if so, which countries.

A

Answered by: Lord Price

Answered on: 08 November 2016

Data are not available from a single source for trade in goods and services combined. The value of trade is calculated by summing exports and imports. The single market here is defined as the EU countries. Data for 2014 taken from Eurostat show there were 194 countries and territories where the value of trade in goods with the rest of the EU was higher than the value of trade in goods with the UK. These countries are listed in Table 1 - attached.

Data for 2014 taken from Eurostat show there were 200 countries and territories where the value of trade in services with the rest of the EU was higher than the value of trade in services with the UK. These countries are listed in Table 2 - attached.

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The two tables mentioned in the article, are shown as PDF files, attached, below, and can be downloaded.